New Optima Build: Project CYANide - Finished!

[Coelacanth]

I took the heat gun to my custom-made bumper and gave it a few bends to better fit the on-road body. It turned out pretty good, it'll protect the bottom-front of the 'Cuda body and even seems to blend in with the 'Cuda chin spoiler. Here's some pics from all angles to show the final fit of the bumper. I'll be lowering the front end of the body about an 1/8" or so from how it looks here. The ugly red fibre washers are only temporary for test fitting.

[Coelacanth]

Teaser pic of paint progress in my home-made mini paint-booth.

I had a near-disaster happen with some Pactra rattle-cans I bought online. They don't make the color I need anymore in the rattle-cans, only the airbrush bottles, but I tracked down 3 new cans of Chezoom Teal in the rattle-cans that were probably sitting on some shelf for God-knows-how-long. The first can only spat out big drops of paint for a second or two before oozing paint beneath the nozzle and seemingly had very little air pressure. The second can was better but wasn't spraying the usual nice, fine mist that I'm used to with Pactra Lexan RC paint. It was pretty splotchy, even with lots of shaking and a good soak in hot water beforehand. The third can wasn't much better. I was getting worried and very pissed that, after all this work, I might end up with a splotchy, inconsistent paint-job (I don't own an airbrush yet).

To try to save this paint-job, I cleaned a nozzle tip from a can of paint that was working well and swapped it with the tip on can #3 and that worked noticeably better. Much thanks goes to ROH73 who offered that tip instead of oh-so-useful suggestions like "buy an airbrush". You da man, ROH73, you really got me out of a predicament!

I decided to back-spray with Pactra Aqua Wave Metallic that I bought a while ago, it's a similar color but brighter and a bit greener. I'll back-spray that with Indy Silver. I think this will turn out pretty nice, after all.

[ROH73]

You're welcome. Looks great! Now flip it over so we can see the other side!

[Coelacanth]

The flip-over pics may come tomorrow. I'd like to share my experiences with Pactra Window Tint. I figured this would be the shiznit for tinted windows, but my God, what a disaster! They ought to call this product Pactra Window Pips!!

The first attempt, it looked good immediately after I sprayed it on...but 10 minutes later, there were spots and pips all over the windows. I immediately attributed that to dust motes that ended up on the wet paint--even though I'm doing this in my mini paint-booth with exhaust ventilation, and saw no pip-behavior with any of the previous coats of Pactra Lexan paints. I wiped it off and tried again, making sure to change the filter and wipe away any particles inside the plastic tub. Immediately after painting, I flipped the body over so the wet side would be protected. 30 minutes later, the same thing happened! I used some Pactra thinner to remove the window tint. This last time, since I figured it HAD to be dust causing the spots & pips, I stuck the damn body inside a brand new large, clear plastic bag, stuck my hand in there and taped the bloody bag around my wrist before painting it inside the sealed bag. No possibility of dust!

After 10 minutes, FFS, PIPS??!! WTF....it didn't make sense!

I had a can of VHT Nightshades plastic automotive tint (i.e. for headlight/taillight lenses) and sprayed that on a piece of test Lexan, and after 10 minutes, there were no pips, even without the extra precautions I took with the Pactra Window Tint. The conclusion? It's the Pactra paint itself somehow accumulating in dots and pips, this was *not* caused by dust at all!! Unfortunately, the Nightshades paint said it had acetone on the can...not a good thing. I tested it on a used Lexan body I received in an Optima parts lot and the Nightshades definitely attacked the paint, right through to the Lexan. No way I was gonna try that out on this 'Cuda body!

Needless to say, I was very unimpressed with Pactra Window Tint. I wouldn't recommend it. The so-called final touches of your paint-job could end up a catastrophe if you use this sh!t.

I cleaned it off a fourth time with Pactra thinner, quickly following that up with hot water on a paper towel, drying it, and cleaning the bare Lexan windows off with isopropyl alcohol before ultimately painting the side & rear windows with plain ol' Outlaw Black paint. I left the front windshield clear.

I have to remove some outside overspray before taking some pics, but I don't have any denatured alcohol...so the pics will have to wait a day or two. But I can say that this paint-job looks fantastic.

[bdrmbully]

i also didnt have much luck with the pactra cans. i bought a color and it came out entirely different then what was represented on the can. X2 different colors. my buddy told me i should write them. cause they basically screwed up my new sct ten body.

[Coelacanth]

Finally finished up the body tonight! It took me about an hour and a half to remove the overspray from the edges where the paint snuck underneath the masking tape...I couldn't find denatured alcohol anywhere, so I used some camp stove fuel (naphtha) instead. It works but it's probably a little slow-going compared to ethanol.

The sharp-eyed Mopar fans among you will notice I did the hood paint scheme differently from an AAR 'Cuda, but that was intentional, for 2 reasons: to be different, and because I prefer the hood-only flat-black treatment of the Challenger T/A's more. I just like it better this way.

[CNA75]

What an impressive job you've done there! It really looks fantastic!

[Coelacanth]

Thank you, CNA75!

[ROH73]

It looks great; nice job!

[Diggley]

Can't wait to see this one when it's finished!

SWEET!

I love the custom work, the subtle color, & classic flat black hood.

Those HPI Torque Thrust replicas rock!, I've got a set on my Tamiya '67 Bug.

I know it's called: RC10talk, but this stuff is way more interesting than the latest 6-gear restore...

[Coelacanth]

Thank you very much, Diggley! I consider that high praise, I've seen some of your Bug-work and was impressed with the attention to detail! The devil's in the details, as they say...

I got the stickers installed this evening. I must say, this is maybe the part I was dreading most. I can make a great paint-job, but applying stickers makes me nervous. Needing 4 stickers for the front/rear windows, for example--and getting them to align properly--that's enough to make me sweat! And sweat, I did.

I also thought the stickers around the front grille/headlights & above the valance were particularly troublesome. It took a lot of work to get them right, and as we all know with stickers, they eventually always lift up and look like crap. I've never been a fan of stickers of ANY sort; I even removed all the factory stickers from my 1:1 Dakota. But for these HPI bodies, you need to apply the stickers if you want the thing to have any scale realism.

My driver side window sticker had imperfections in it, maybe because of the way it was packaged. Other than that, they went on pretty well. It took me about 2.5 hours to put them on. This wasn't my idea of a fun time...

[Coelacanth]

I just realized---my buddy's 1:1 1971 Charger's 2-year-old paint color is almost exactly like this one. I didn't intend things to work out that way, but I've always loved green & blue, and even more when it's a combination of the two.

[Hcp22]

The body looks so cool, you have done a great job Coelacnth!!!

[bdrmbully]

awesome!! usually I say take off the body , but lets see it mounted now!!!!!!

[Diggley]

awesome!! usually I say take off the body , but lets see it mounted now!!!!!!

X2!!!